Last Year the Toughest Season of Deron Williams’ Career ‘By Far’

Deron Williams is happy to have a re-loaded Nets team, after enduring the most painful season of his 8-year NBA career. From HoopsHype: “How was free agency for you? Did you enjoy it, was it stressful? DW: ‘I enjoyed it and didn’t enjoy it at the same time. It was good to be able to choose where I wanted to go. But it was very stressful trying to make a decision because I was really torn between two teams.’ Was it your plan all along to sign early in free agency? DW: ‘Yeah, I wanted to sign as soon as possible. That was my goal. I knew I was probably gonna be the first person and then everybody else would kind of fall off of me. I wanted to get it done as soon as possible, not only for myself and for my family but for everybody else so they could pick where they wanted to go.’ Were you expecting the Nets to make such a big investment in free agency? DW: ‘I knew they wanted to be aggressive, that they are willing to commit to win’. Was last year the toughest of your career? DW: ‘Yeah, by far.’ Even worse than your rookie year, when you didn’t get major playing time? DW: ‘Yeah, we won 41 games and I played 28 minutes a game as a rookie. Last year was a lot tougher than my first year by far.’ Do you think you are going to be contenders this year? DW: ‘Only time will tell. I think everybody has to go through Miami. They are the team to beat. We have just to come together as a team, we’re going to be a brand new team trying to adjust to each other so you never know how things will turn out.'”